Mechanical swimming device



May 27, 1924'.

M. RADO MECHANICAL." SWIMMING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Au'z. 2e.)922 May 27 1924. l

` M. RADO MECHANI CAL SW1 MMING DEVICE Filed AUE. 26 )97.2 2Sheets-Sheet 2 MART/N RAD@ @5% @M i WWW/W Patented May 27, 1924.

unirse vstares Alassant IP Artnr f MARTIN Reno, or' NEW YORK, IN. Y. ,l

MECHANICAL SWIMMING nrn'rIon.y Y..

Application inea A.August .fa-6,1922. seriall No. 584,463.

To aZZ 'whom t may concer/a.'

Be it known that I, MARTINliano,v a citizen of Hungary, and resident ofNew York, in the county of New York and YState of. New York, haveinvented 'certain new and useful Improvements in -Mechanical SwimmingDevices, of which the following isa. speci# fication.

This invention relates to sporting Adevices and has for itsvobject toprovide a mechanism which will greatly increase the speed vand theendurance of its user while swimming.

Another object of the invention is `to provide a device of the mentionedcharacter which will resemble a boat floating on the water and whichwill insure the most coni- 'ortable position to its user. Still furtherobjects of my invention are to provide such a swimming bed which can beadjustedto different positions of the swimmer, which is safe in use,practical in construction and cheap to manufacture.

To obtain the mentioned objects, I provide a bedlike floating structurewith a i'ront part shaped similar'to that of' a boat and equipped with amechanism whereby the person using the same and lying in said structurecan operate oarsboth with his hands and legs, and thereby propel saidstructure on the surface of thewater Vwith a great speed.

For a full description of' the invention and the merits thereof vandalso to acquire a knowledgeof the details of construction of the samevfor effecting the various results mentioned hereinbefore, reference isto be had to the following description and accompanying drawings,forming part yolf this specification.

While the essential and characteristic features of the invention aresusceptible of modification, still the preferredembodiment of myinvention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1is an elevational side view of my device, portions of the samebeingbroken away, in order to reduce the length of said view,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of my device, similar to Fig. 1., Fig. 3 is across sectional view, the section being taken Yon the line 3 3 of Fig.1., while Figs. Ll and 5 are detail views of certain portions of myinvention, shown in a larger scale.

Referring more closely to the drawings,

the' numeral J6 indicates the front' portion ofmy device in general, thevnumeral 7 'the central portion ofthe same, while thefnumeral 8 standsvfor the rear portion of" it. The main connecting `linkbetween the threeportions of my device `is ,af comparatively strong b eam 9 which runsthroughout; the length of the' central portion and to which i5connecteda post 10 at the front part of' my device, witha verticalforklikelstructure 11, while the rear portion-8 isconnected lto the rearend ofsaid beam 'as at 12. The central portion of my devicehas two beams13 at the sides of the top surface which-are interconnected witheachother and with the beam 9 by two lstrong metal bands 14..Cylindrical floats 15 are arranged around .said bands 14 and give thewhole Vstructure 'acer tain amount of lifting. power in thfewater.

The lowest centrally locatedfloats are of large diameters and the floatshave gradualfl ly diminishing diameters towards the upper portions ofthe device. Said floats-will be held in position by two ybands 16,passing through appropriate loops17`, arranged on the floats. The ends18 of these .bands are securedinto the beams 13. The central vporf tionof my device is further equipped with 1 the bedlike structure 19,suspended from the beams 13 and made of netting or any other suitablematerial in such a way as to com-l fortably receive the upperV portionof the' I body of a man in a downwardly lying position and beingadjustable to enable the user to immerse in the water tov a larger orsmaller extent.

Theoars 2O are connected to the vertical post 10 in the front of mydevice in such a manner asyto permit them to execute the differentmotions necessary for rowing with them. Y Y

The front portion also may be covered by plates 21 in a boatlike manner,such plates being preferably made of wood, aluminum'or other materialsof light weight. The user of my device will float the same on the waterand will lie downwardly on the suspended bed 19in the central portion ofthesame. In sucha position he will be able to reach the oars with hishands. and

this pur ose, I employ the rear portion 8 of my evice. Said rear portionmainly consists` of two preferably round giiide bars 22, arranged sideby side and horizontally in the center line of the beam 9, being se-Acured thereto as at 12. Awfsliding guide piece 23 runs on the horizontalbars 22 and is Vconnected to a multiple scissorlike hinged linkstructure 24, arranged between said two guide bars 22. The startinglinks of the same are permanently secured to said guide bars, as at'25.A pedal device 26 is secured'to the ktwo sides of said multiple linkstructure 24%, having two sliding guides 27 arranged onthe guide bars22. rIwo vertical rowing planes 28 are hingedly connected to the twosides of the sliding guide piece 23 in such a manner that when goingforward in the direction of the front of my device, the resistance ofthe water will force them to fold down flat alongside the guide bars 22so that said guide piece 23 and planes 28 will move forwardly in thewater meeting a very slight resistance only, While when the' guide piece28 is forced backwardly towards the rear end of my device, the planes 28will open up under the action of spiralpsprings 30 arranged ontheirsh'afts 29, and will encounter a great resistance in the water,thereby powerfully driving my device in a forward direction. Thisbackward driving and forward pulling of said planes -28 willrbe executedby the motions of the legs of the swimmer making use of the pedals 26.The swimmer, while lying `flat on the central portion of my device andpropelling the same forwardly with oars ,20, will secure his feet intothe pedals 26 and pull them forwardly and push them to the rearalternately on the guidebars 22. In order to greatly increase thepropelling power ofthe leg movements of the swimmenx I have interposed.the multiple link construction 24E between the pedals 26 and theVsliding piece 28. carrying the planes 28. At a comparatively smallrearward motion ofthe legs of the swimmer, that is of the pedals 26,said link structure is forced to Vopen upr to a considerable length, vasshown by the dotted lines 81` thereby multiplying the length of thestroke of the swimmer-s legs, and forcing the planes 28 throughaconsiderable distance in the water. The movements of the planes` 28,combined with the rowing effect of the arms of the swimmer, will give asurprisingly high speed to my swimming device.

At the rear end of my device, I may employ a float 82 to keep the samein af level position, while additional floats 33 may be employed at thesides of the center part of my device to protect the same in very roughwater, or in cases where it mayhave a temporarily eccentric loading.These additional floats 33 may be turned upwardly on their`framestructiires 34: and on pins 85Vout of contact with the water incase their use is not needed and a greater velocity is aimed Y at or itis desired to reduce the width of the swimming device.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and want toprotect by Letters Patent of the United States, is zd '1. A sportingdevicerfor swimmers, comprising a `central structure, arranged on floatsand having a boatlike front portion and general contour, bedlike meansattached to said structure and adapted to receive thev upper body of theuser of said device in a lying position, two independent oars secured tothe front portion of said structure and adapted t0 propel and governsaid structure therewith; a horizontally extending rear portion to saidstructure having a float at its rear end; vertical and foldable rowingplanes slidably arranged on said rear to said structure and adapted toreceive theV upper body of the user of said'device in a lying position,a vertical post secured to the boatlike front portion of said structureand carrying oars adapted to be operated by the hands of the user,horizontally extending guiding means secured to the rear end of saidstructure, said guiding means Ycarrying a sliding mechanism and having.rowing planes attachedv thereto adapted to fold down on said guidingmeans in a longitudinal direction on the forward movement` of saidvsliding niechanisnnand to open up in a perpendicular ortransverse,direction on the backward .movement of saidguiding mechanism,a scissorlike hinged link structure interposed between said slidingmechanismV and the rear end of said floating structure, pedals attachedto said link structure and adapted to be operated by the legs of theuser of said sporting device, and additional float bodies arranged onthe sides of said floating structure and ladapted to beevturi'ied out ofengagement with the water.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,this 19th day of August, D. 1922.

' MARTIN KADO.

